Should a private company run the Coliseum?

Paige Fontenot, executive sales director for the Rapides Parish Coliseum, gives The Town Talk a tour of the newly renovated Rapides Parish Coliseum. Besides a new arena, the coliseum also has suites, banquets and meeting rooms available for rent.
Melinda Martinez and Jim Smilie

Buy Photo

Guests tour the Rapides Parish Coliseum in February, after a $23 million renovation. All has not been smooth since the facility reopened. A private company thinks it can run the Coliseum more efficiently and produce more revenue.(Photo: Melinda Martinez/The Town Talk, Melinda Martinez/The Town Talk,)Buy Photo

Since the newly renovated Rapides Parish Coliseum reopened, there has been debate about the best way to run it. A private company thinks it can do it better.

Representatives from SMG, which specializes in managing publicly owned facilities, made a presentation to the Police Jury Monday, in hopes of adding the Coliseum to the robust list of venues it operates.

"We know what it takes to manage a building this size in a market this size," said Doug Thornton, executive vice president with SMG. "We know Louisiana very well, from Shreveport all the way down to New Orleans. There are advantages we have that you probably don't possess."

SMG manages 233 facilities worldwide, including 11 in Louisiana, ranging from arenas and stadiums that NFL and NBA teams call home to venues in small and mid-sized markets like Alexandria. About 80 percent of its facilities are in small and mid-sized markets.

Managing that many facilities gives SMG significant muscle to pull in events, which is perhaps the greatest potential advantage it brings to the table.

"We control 1.5 million seats," Thornton said. "That gives us enormous leverage when dealing with promoters."

Acts that play in some SMG venues — such as the Superdome or the CenturyLink Center in Bossier City — would be unlikely to come to Alexandria. But acts that come to other venues — such as Champions Square in New Orleans, Historic Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport and Raising Cane's River Center in Baton Rouge — would be natural fits to rout through Alexandria, Thornton said.

Though concerts typically book 6-12 months in advance, SMG representatives are confident they can increase activity and revenue at the Coliseum during what's left of 2017.

Buy Photo

Amanda Hewitt competes in barrel racing at the Rapides Parish Rodeo at the Rapides Parish Coliseum.(Photo: Melinda Martinez/The Town Talk)

"We have been actively discussing with promoters and consumer show producers," said Sam Voisin, regional vice president with SMG. "Even though we're not under contract, we started that process because time is of the essence in the budget crunch you're in."

In addition, Thornton said, SMG brings tools and expertise built over 40 years in business that would help the Coliseum run more efficiently in areas including maintenance management, customer service, guest experience, financial controls, security procedures and turning the building over quickly from one event to another.

Thornton did not share specifics on what SMG would charge to manage the Coliseum, but said the company is offering "competitive terms" that includes a flat fee, plus performance-based incentives.

SMG is offering to defer its fees in 2017 to future years. It's also offering to advance the capital for a fund to offset costs to bring acts to the Coliseum, such as increasing rigging capacity for heavy equipment.

Police Juror Sean McGlothlin said SMG is "giving us an offer it's so hard to refuse."

"In my opinion, the only way the Coliseum is going to survive is if we go with a management company," he said. "SMG has put in a lot of time and they want to be in Alexandria."

Juror Oliver "Ollie" Overton thinks the Coliseum Authority, which is appointed by the Police Jury and is currently in charge of overseeing the Coliseum, should be given more time to address issues that have surfaced since the facility opened in February, including lower than expected revenues and the contentious resignation of the executive director.

"It's premature to pass judgement on them," Overton said. "I think we need to take a step back and take our foot off the gas a little bit."

A decision on whether to hire SMG will likely be made soon. Transitioning a facility to its management normally takes about six weeks, Thornton said, but the company has done it in as little as four.

"We have to move forward quickly, whatever direction we go," said Police Jury President Craig Smith.